Allure of Darkness
by Vampire Queen of NOLA
Summary: [AU] Tony Stark, the famous hero Iron Man, has settled into a reasonably comfortable existence with his wife and darling daughter, Caroline. For years, there's been no need for the Avengers to assemble again, the world staying relatively 'safe', so to speak. But now that a whole new race has arisen, led by an ancient, immortal family, will the Avengers band together once more?


_Clatter. Clank. Crash._

"Daddyyyyy?" The blonde eighteen-year-old was hurrying down the stairs, her hair a mussed mess and her eyes bleary. It had to be somewhere near four in the morning, but her father had promised her a day just for them, so she'd gotten up early to make sure she had time to get ready. With a sigh, she hopped over the last five steps and moved on light feet through the front room, a chill creeping up her legs from her bare feet on the wooden floor. "Daddy!" She heard another crash, enough to tell her two things- one, the man hadn't slept (no surprise there) and two, he was down in what she liked to call his tech-man cave. (Okay, in all reality, it was kind of more of a lab type setting, but really, she wasn't about to try to give it a legit label, because it was the only one of its kind.)

Pausing in the sitting room, she tilted her head, listening for a lull in the noise; once it came, she lifted her foot and stomped down, _hard_, enough that the sound might carry below. "DADDY, YOU PROMISED!" A crash followed, the curses after not quite quiet enough to not carry up into the quiet house above his workroom, and she planted her hands on her hips as she heard him hurrying up the stairs. Even though she had her own identification to get down there, she really didn't feel like going upstairs to get it or even going down the stairs that led to the room to meet him halfway. Instead, she simply stood, and she waited.

"Caroline!" She heard him before she saw him, half out of breath from hurrying to attempt to smooth over the irritation he'd heard in her voice. His hand covered her shoulder, but she shrugged it off, whirling to face him. Of course, the man looked _exhausted_- as much as the papers liked to say he looked good for his age, right now, he looked like an old man. He offered her a grin, to which he received a sound glare, his daughter's mouth twisting into a line of displeasure. "Carebear, hey, I know I promised! Oh, don't look at me like that, just because I was working doesn't mean-"

"The last time we had a father-daughter day after a night of working, you passed out when we went to the movies!" she snapped. He opened his mouth to protest, but she lifted a hand, jabbing a finger into his chest. "Not. Cool! Seriously?! You know, _maybe_, to the world, you're Tony Stark, and everything about you is totally epic and cool, but to me, you're _Daddy_, and I am so sick of you pulling this before our special days!"

"Care, come on," Tony groaned, taking her by the shoulders. "You're my princess. I wouldn't have stayed up all night if I didn't think I could handle it! Look, here, why don't you make some coffee-" -he quickly backtracked as she scoffed- "-or I can make some coffee, no problem, and you can get ready. Promise I'll be at one hundred percent functionality all day." Caroline pulled a pout, the one that had always made him cave to whatever she wanted from the time she was a little girl, and he countered with an imploring look.

"Fine." Shrugging his hands away, she stepped around him, starting to head towards the stairs- she loved her father, and got exceedingly jealous whenever his time was consumed by his little projects. Sure, those little projects had made their family unbelievably rich, but she'd give all of that up to have a normal father-daughter relationship. And she made allowances, she really did. Still, today had been a _big_ day, and he had yet to remember it. (The man never had been good with remembering important days.) She paused at the foot of the stairs, turning to toss a little reminder over her shoulder- "By the way, Daddy? Seriously not cool that you haven't even said happy birthday."

She heard him curse as she started up the stairs once more, smirking slightly. Okay, so she'd kind of expected she'd have to remind him, considering his automated reminder always came at _five_ in the morning on her birthday, but his shouted apology made her giggle. Served him right for spending so much time down there. And then, when she was certain he wouldn't have the time to grab her and sit her down for a 'talk', she shouted down the stairs, "By the way! I'm eighteen now, and remember, _Mom said that means I can date whoever I want!"_

"CAROLINE!"

She quickly darted into her room and slammed the door behind her, dissolving into laughter. Oh, tormenting her father might always come at a price, and she'd pay for it later, but she had to get her payback somehow.

* * *

Two hours later, she was starting to regret the little comment she'd made. Sitting at the island-style counter in the kitchen, head propped on her hands, she heaved a sigh. _Third round, aaaaand go._

"-I mean, you're my little girl. Of course I'm worried. Why wouldn't I be? Do you know how many people would try to use you to get to me?" As he moved to fix another pot of coffee behind her, she began mouthing the words, wondering if he realized he was repeating himself. "I want you to be safe. And hey, you know, the life of nuns, man, I heard it's pretty awesome."

"Please stop saying awesome, Daddy. I am _not _going to be a nun."

"Why not?" he asked, grabbing her coffee mug and leaning over to offer a serious look to counter her blatantly bored one. "You know, there's no need for you to have sex. At all. Ever."

"Oh, my God," she groaned, dropping her head in her hands. He'd always, _always_ been ridiculously overprotective of her. She couldn't count the number of times she'd heard her parents fighting over her schooling- which they compromised on, he'd wanted her homeschooled and so they'd gone for a private, all-girls school- and she knew he'd placed trackers in countless things of hers, including her cell phone. Not to mention the damn _bodyguards_ when she was too young to realize how damn unfashionable they were. (Caroline hadn't won that argument until two years ago, and she still wasn't sure if he was having people follow her.) And there were times he could be cool, like when he made some new thingamajig and dragged her and her mother down to show them it, and the Iron Man thing _could_ be cool. Sometimes.

He had some pretty cool (and admittedly, hot) friends that visited, but all of _them_ were a part of that whole Avengers thing. Apparently, they'd saved the world a few times, independently and together. Pretty awesome stuff, but it also meant they all saw his point of view on his protectiveness. (Dr. Banner had gone so far at one point as to offer to be her bodyguard if she wanted someone familiar, but nope, nope, nope.) Natasha was, admittedly, her favorite, and the one that advocated for her the most. She'd told her father on more than one occasion that Caroline could learn to take care of herself, and she'd been training with the woman at every present opportunity since she was twelve. ("Start off young, and you'll be fine, doll," Natasha had said.) Her mom tried, she did, but she just didn't have the unbiased standpoint Natasha did.

She _could_ take care of herself. The lecture she was getting now was only annoying her, and she finally rolled her eyes, having tuned him out for a bit but now all too willing to interrupt.

"-so, really, if you want to just stay here forever, your mom and I-"

"Can you not? Seriously! It's my birthday, I don't want a lecture on how unsafe the world is today!" Tony blinked, having taken a seat across from her while they waited for the coffee to finish. She frowned, widening her eyes to give him the look she _knew_ he couldn't resist- huge, big baby blues, _begging _him to listen to her. He sighed, pinching the bridge of is nose.

"Between you and your mother, I'm going to go insane. Oy. Alright, alright, fine. I'm done. We, uh..." He pulled his sleeve back, glancing at his watch, and gave a resolute nod. "Yeah, we need to go. Gotta get to the airport. Your mom's meeting us there." _Airport?_ She gave him a confused look, and he grinned, rising and moving around the counter to shut off the coffee pot and pour the coffee down the sink. (Total waste, but she wasn't about to complain when he was talking about giving up the lecture and getting on with their plans.)

"Airport? I thought you were taking me shopping."

"Oh, I am." He chuckled, turning and making a motion to urge her to her feet. "Up, up. Paris is waiting." Her jaw dropped, and once she'd processed that he _wasn't_ joking, she squealed and half-tackled him in a hug.

"_Oh my God! Paris!_"


End file.
